Ments



(ModeL) W. H. GRAPON.

METHOD OF PRODUCING PLBEGED FABRICS.

No. 279.922. Patented June 26, 1883.

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UNITED STATES \VILLIAM H. ORAPON, OF WOONSOCKET, R. I., ASSIGNOE, BY MESNE ASSIGN- PATENT OFFICE...

MENTS, TO HIMSELF AND LYMAN A. COOK, OF SAME PLACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.'279,922, dated June 26, 1883. Application filed November 10, 188 2. (Specimens) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. CRAPON, of \Voonsocket, in the county of Providence, of the State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful Method for the Production of Fleeced Fabrics; and I do hereby declare the same to be described in the following specification and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 is a transverse section, on an enlarged scale, of a fabric made by my improved method. Fig. 2 is'a representation in lengthwise section, 011 an enlarged scale, of a piece of roving, showing the usual arrangement of its fibers and their lines of separation, to enable such roving to be used in the manufacture of the article or artificially-fleeced fabric-robe described.

In carrying out my invention for the production of the said article,I separate into short pieces of equal lengths a piece of roving composed of cotton, wool, or other suitable material, cotton being usually employed. In Fig. 2 such a piece is shown at A, and its line of division at a a, &c. In each of the divisions b of the piece the fibers composing it, the said division, will be unequal in length, many of them terminating at but one end of the piece,

' so that when the piece at such end'is glued or cemented to a backing of cloth or other material all the fibers not adhering. to such backing can easily be separated from such as do adhere thereto. From this itwill be seenthat the adhering fibers will vary in their lengths, as do the hairs of a persons head or those of the fleece of a sheep. Having thus divided a sufficient quantity of rovings, the several pieces thereof are to be placed endwise upon and glued or cemented to a suitable backing of cloth or other proper material, such pieces being arranged in close contact with each other. In Fig. 1 this backing is shown at c, and the fleece thus produced at d. After the the cement or glue may have become hard the fleece is to be combed or otherwise properly treated, so as to remove from the fleece the fibers thereof not adhering to the backing, after which the fleece will have the appearance of a natural fleece, as does the fleece of a sheep or that of a curly-haired dog. I11 fact,

the appearance of the fleece is so very much like the natural fleece of an animal as to render it difficult for most persons to distinguish any difference. Thus by my process of manufacture an artificial fleeced or fur fabric is produced having the characteristics of natural fur or sheep-skin with the fleece upon it.

The cutting of the rovings and their application to the backing I usually accomplish in a very speedy manner by a machine which I have invented for the purpose.

I am aware that in the making of carpets or pile fabrics it has been customary to fill asuitable receptacle with parallel yarns laid according to a design, so that a transverse section of the mass will show the pattern, the

ends of the receptacle being open, and a plunger being introduced at one end of the recep tacle to crowd forward the mass, the cut end or surface thereof being first cemented to a backing, after which the mass was cut through again in close proximity with the backing, so as to leave on the latter a pile formed of short pieces of the yarn. I am also aware of the mode of making a cemented-back carpet by first arranging or winding yarns about bars or rods, and in such state cementing the yarn to a backing, and afterward cutting the loops thus formed and connected to the backing, all of which differs materially from my invention, and is productive of different results, and is not claimed by me.

I would also remark that, in the place of rov ing, or as an equivalent therefor, a bat having its fibers combedin one direction may be used, such bat being separated across its fibers into pieces of the requisite size, and they being cemented at one end or edge of each to the backing, and, after being securedin place thereon, combed or treated so as to separate from them the fibers detached from the backing.

. I am also aware that it has been proposed to make an artificial fleeced fabric by arrang ing the wool or cotton in a box, cutting off in sections by an oblique cut, and then securing these sections along the line of the oblique cut to a backing; also, that sections have been cut across the line of the rovings, and the middle of these sections secured to the backing, allowing both ends to project and form the fleece.

In my invention the section cut across the sections of roving of cotton of equal lengths by io line of the rovings is secured at one end to the one end to a suitable backing and combing or backing, and the loose fibers being brushed or brushing out the loose unattached fibers, all combed so that there will be an irregularity as herein described, and for the purpose set in the lengths of the remaining fibers, which forth.

will present a fleecy appearance. 7 \VILLIAM H. CRAPON, What I claim is \Vitnesses: The method of producing an artificial fleece R. H. EDDY,

or fieecy fabric, which consists in cementing E. B. PRATT. 

